The present invention is directed to boring heads, and more particularly to a boring head including a pair of cutting element holders that are individually and independently adjustable along the longitudinal as well as the radial axis of the boring head.
Various boring heads have been devised in the art. Currently available boring heads suffer from various disadvantages, however, in that their cutting element holders are not axially and radially individually adjustable. An illustrative example of such boring head is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,691 to Pape et al. In this tool, a pair of cutting blade holders are mounted in a transverse slot in the leading face thereof by a single set-screw. When it is desired to make an adjustment in the position of the blade holders, the set-screw is loosened and after making the adjustment, it is tightened to fix the position of the blade holders in the transverse slot.
However, if it is desired to make an adjustment in the position of only one of the blade holders, the set-screw holding both the blade holders, must be loosened and tightened. The loosening and tightening of the single set-screw runs the risk of inadvertently changing the position of both the cutting blade holders, when only a change in the position of only one cutting blade holder is desired. In other words, since a single screw secures both the blade holders on the boring head, it requires extra precaution on the part of the operator to make certain that no change in the position of one blade holder has occurred, while making a change in the position of the other blade holder.
Further, conventional boring heads do not provide accurate axial (height) adjustment of the cutting element holders as the height adjustment mechanism is provided in the cutting elements themselves which translate toward and away from the outer edges of the boring head. For example, when the cutting element holders are positioned adjacent their radial innermost positions, the height adjustment screws are too close to the axial centerline of the boring head, and their movements therefore have very little impact on their associated cutting blade holders. Therefore, these boring heads do not have reliable adjusting mechanisms for the cutting element holders.
In view of the disadvantages associated with the conventional boring heads, there is a need in the art for a boring head in which the cutting element holders are individually and independently adjustable.